Console Version of Diablo 3: Offline Play, No RMAH, Not Exclusive to Sony, Hands On Console Gameplay

Console Version of Diablo 3: Offline Play, No RMAH, Not Exclusive to Sony
An interview with game designer Joshua Mosqueira popped up on Penny Arcade in which he explains that Diablo 3 is "not necessarily exclusive to Sony". Here's an excerpt from the interview, or you can view it in its entirety here.

DiabloFans Quote:

There was some question about the offline play of the game, something that’s impossible in the PC version of Diablo 3. It was confirmed to me that the game will be playable offline on the PlayStation 3.

Which leads to some other changes, namely the removal of the real money auction house. “The ecosystems on the PC and console are very different,” Mosqueira explained. “There were some technical reasons we had to go with offline, but again once you have an offline experience, even if we wanted to bring in the auction house, it just becomes problematic. How do you validate? How do you make sure there is no duping or any of that stuff?”

Hands On Console Gameplay
IGN posted a video where Senior Designer Mathew Berger shows how the game plays on the PS3. Here's also a quick summary of what has changed:

The camera is more zoomed in.

Boss battles have been changed up a bit to make for a more console feel.

All classes appear to have a new dodge button.

Fewer items drop but they're of greater quality.

A small overall statistic of the item you loot shows up on the left of the screen, comparing it to what you currently have equipped and letting you equip the new item straight away if you so desire.

So... consoles get the dream version that we have wanted since release?

I sincerely hope they will make some of this stuff available for PC aswell, esp. ability to play without RMAH (I know that I don't HAVE to use it, but the mere option will and have inflated prices to insanity on gold AH)

Offline play is something I can understand is not available for PC now that the whole version is built upon it and we really have to accept that the console version is quite different from its very foundation but there is really no excuse for us not having the other stuff since there is nothing stopping them from setting up "No RMAH" regions.

As an avid fan of the current game and the continued development, there are so many things to be frustrated about with the console version. Offline, evasion, tweaked content, no carryover from current Bnet accounts or characters - all things that make me just feel cheated as a consumer. However, that said (and I know tons of people will do the same), ill probably end up getting this on the PS4 because I am a sheep.

“There were some technical reasons we had to go with offline, but again once you have an offline experience, even if we wanted to bring in the auction house, it just becomes problematic. How do you validate? How do you make sure there is no duping or any of that stuff?”

“How do you validate? How do you make sure there is no duping or any of that stuff?”

“How do you make sure there is no duping or any of that stuff?”

I don't really know whether to laugh or cry.

The auction house has been RIDDLED with duped items for MONTHS now, proved by tons of posts on both official and other forums.
AT THE VERY LEAST treat us like more than drooling baboons and admit that your freaking always-online never did anything for this, and is just DRM.
That DRM is not needed on consoles - they are a closed off ecosystems where piracy is much less rampant, which results in consoles getting offline play, something we PC users have screamed for since way before launch and have been told was "impossible in order to deliver the full experience".
Well, if the full experience is an auction house which supposedly you (Blizzard) are supposed to police and keep free of hacks and dupes, then I'd much rather have half the experience thank you very much.

“There were some technical reasons we had to go with offline, but again once you have an offline experience, even if we wanted to bring in the auction house, it just becomes problematic. How do you validate? How do you make sure there is no duping or any of that stuff?”

“How do you validate? How do you make sure there is no duping or any of that stuff?”

“How do you make sure there is no duping or any of that stuff?”

I don't really know whether to laugh or cry.

The auction house has been RIDDLED with duped items for MONTHS now, proved by tons of posts on both official and other forums.
AT THE VERY LEAST treat us like more than drooling baboons and admit that your freaking always-online never did anything for this, and is just DRM.
That DRM is not needed on consoles - they are a closed off ecosystems where piracy is much less rampant, which results in consoles getting offline play, something we PC users have screamed for since way before launch and have been told was "impossible in order to deliver the full experience".
Well, if the full experience is an auction house which supposedly you (Blizzard) are supposed to police and keep free of hacks and dupes, then I'd much rather have half the experience thank you very much.

Oh not at all, I'll buy it like the sheeple I am. Me and wife will finally be able to share one big screen on a couch. I knew I bought that PS3 for a reason. It's that we don't have these things on the PC which teases me and a lot of other folk, as is apparent.

“There were some technical reasons we had to go with offline, but again once you have an offline experience, even if we wanted to bring in the auction house, it just becomes problematic. How do you validate? How do you make sure there is no duping or any of that stuff?”

“How do you validate? How do you make sure there is no duping or any of that stuff?”

“How do you make sure there is no duping or any of that stuff?”

I don't really know whether to laugh or cry.

The auction house has been RIDDLED with duped items for MONTHS now, proved by tons of posts on both official and other forums.
AT THE VERY LEAST treat us like more than drooling baboons and admit that your freaking always-online never did anything for this, and is just DRM.
That DRM is not needed on consoles - they are a closed off ecosystems where piracy is much less rampant, which results in consoles getting offline play, something we PC users have screamed for since way before launch and have been told was "impossible in order to deliver the full experience".
Well, if the full experience is an auction house which supposedly you (Blizzard) are supposed to police and keep free of hacks and dupes, then I'd much rather have half the experience thank you very much.

please don't write shit if you know nothing
the only dupes in the game were created by Blizzard because they rollback hacked accounts - that was a nice service for players
unfortunately some players are evil and abused this service of Blizzard

please don't write shit if you know nothing
the only dupes in the game were created by Blizzard because they rollback hacked accounts - that was a nice service for players
unfortunately some players are evil and abused this service of Blizzard

The pure scale on which items have been duped (radiant star gems dropping to 1/20th of what it costs to craft them, upwards of 8 of the same Manticores on the AH all at once, the same rare items getting posted one at a time every time the previous one is sold out) makes me believe that anyone who thinks the ONLY duping method is the rollbacks are people who view logic as their enemy.
There is another way, it is however kept a safely guarded secret probably only known by a handful or two of people. Know why they dont share it with average joes like you and I? Because it makes them thousands of dollars, litterally.
So no. I don't know what the exact method is, but if you apply the slightest amount of common sense you can see that the pure scale of it cant be only rollbacks.

And okay, I will humor you - say rollbacks is the ONLY way of duping. HOW THE HELL is Blizzard allowing this to go on? How have they not managed to secure their system better against that sort of scamming? It must be happening on an astounding scale for i.e. radiant star gems to drop to 1m gold. So when they rollback an account, how hard is it to check what is on it? If there is 500+ radiant stars on the account, I can pretty much assure you something's up.
Please don't defend Blizzard's DRM. They're crapping all over your rights as a consumer by having it in the first place, and then displaying utter incompetence in providing the environment it was supposed to guarantee in the first place.

And before anyone comes with the obvious "then dont play the game/post on a forum about it" - bugger off. I have every right to complain about a service I paid for which does not live up to my expectations. If we all went along like valiant white knights defending Blizzard, they would think nothing in this game of theirs could be improved.